Business

Only 47% of grads are fully employed — here’s how to be one of them

Here’s a puzzle. Six months after graduation, fewer than half of new grads will be in jobs that require a college degree. At the same time, growing companies are desperate for capable entry-level talent.

Why aren’t they just hiring the other 50%? In my job, I work with employers all over the country, all of whom are on the hunt for raw, young talent. This is what I hear:

Hiring managers want to look at your job application and say, "You’re the one." They want your resume to make them fall out of their chairs with shock and awe. They’re looking for unicorns, essentially, which most of us just can’t be.

Hiring managers can’t be confident that you’re the one because they can’t tell you apart from the other 53 resumes and cover letters on their desks. Before you get offended (I’m sure you’re a unique and beautiful snowflake), hear me out.

The things that tell a hiring manager whether or not you’re right for the job? You don’t have them. Yet.

You might be the best hiring decision they could possibly make, but how do they know? Your resume is dynamic, but it lacks meaty work experience. What would you be like working on a project for 18 months? You went to a fine school and have an impressive GPA, but being good at academia does not mean you’ll be good at your job.

So, how do hiring managers choose?

They start looking for something else. Your resume, recommendations and cover letter are all important. But you won’t get the job unless you can demonstrate these three things.

Test 1: Do you have hustle?

Stop thinking of a job description as a job description. Companies don’t have job descriptions. They have a buffet of problems, sitting on the table, all waiting to be solved by you.

When you’re preparing for an interview or even writing your cover letter, read between the lines of that job description and figure out what they’re really describing (problems), and how you could help solve them.

Think of your interview as the first hustle test. If you walk in unprepared and without a plan, or even an understanding of the problems, you’ve failed. But if you walk in with a 90-day plan, a briefcase of creative ideas for solving problems, and a list of meaty questions that have come up during your research, the interviewers are going to know you can hustle. Why? Because you already have.

Test 2: Are you curious?

I don’t believe you when you tell me you are passionate about something. Everybody says they’re passionate about the company, the mission, even the most menial tasks.

So, instead of telling a hiring manager how passionate you are, show them through your curiosity.

The only question you’re pretty much guaranteed to get in an interview is, “Do you have any questions?” There is no reason to miss the mark here, but many people do, especially early in their careers.

You can’t be passionate about something if you’re not also curious about it. So ask questions that demonstrate you’ve done your research, but more importantly, that show you are hungry to find solutions.

Don’t ask a question that Google could answer in .00000019 seconds. Ask your interviewers what success looks like in the first 90 days on the job. Ask about previous people in this role, and what made them exceptional. Ask about the biggest challenges the company has and dig further to figure out how you can help solve them.

In an interview — and especially when you’re young — you don’t have to know all the answers. Nobody expects you to. But you do need to prove that you want to find the answers.

Test 3: Do I want to work with you?

Never forget this. Throughout the interview, a hiring manager is really only trying to figure out two things. "Will you add value?" and "Do I want to work with you?"

Hopefully, you’ve already shown you can add value. You’ve looked at the company’s buffet of problems and shown, not told, how you can solve them. You’ve asked questions to show that you’re eager to be successful in this role, not because you want a job, but because you care about the problems facing the company.

But still, do I want to work with you?

An impressive resume and perfect interview answers don’t make up for being unpleasant. Nor does five years of experience make up for not being a good cultural fit.

Always remember, companies don’t hire people. People hire people.

Through your research, try to get an idea of how the people at this organization operate. How fast do they move? What motivates them? How do they define success? Are these people you want to work with? That alone might tell you whether or not you’d be a cultural fit. If you can’t get a sense of this through your research, use the interview as a time to find out. Be open to talking about work-style and work culture, which is a huge part of any job at any company.

Ultimately, you want your interviewer to like you. You want them to be excited about you and confident that, even if you don’t have as much experience as the next candidate, you’re going to bring that hustle, that curiosity and that desire to add value to the organization.

Make them believe in you. Make them want to fight for you. And then prove them right.

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Kristen Hamilton is CEO of Seattle-based Koru, the leading talent marketplace focused on landing college grads in jobs they love. Before serving as Koru’s CEO, Kristen worked as COO of a global non-profit, launc...More

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